Vol 2 of a study of the civilizing process in Western culture, in II Parts, which attempts to show that from the time of the Middle Ages, increasing restraints exercised upon human behavior were part of an extended hierarchical development in which power became concentrated in absolute rulers, or kings, at the expense of large landholders, or nobles, & of the people. Presented is an analysis of this trend toward the centralization of power in European states, & of the policies of courtly rationality adopted in aristocratic circles which established ever greater distances between Ucs & Lcs. PART I - FEUDALIZATION AND STATE FORMATION - describes the dynamics of the feudal process, provides a survey of courtly society, & analyzes the social, economic, military, & religious mechanisms which served the process of the centralization of power. Included are observations on the differences between medieval & ancient societies, the sociogenesis of the Crusades, population increase & migrations, & the increasing differentiation of SCs & courtly conduct. A chpt on the sociogenesis of the state discusses different forms of social development that occurred in England, France, & Germany, the growth of monopoly structures, the evolution of monarchies, the development of the bourgeoisie, the alternating periods of tension & accommodation between the state & the Church, & the monopoly of taxation. PART II - SYNOPSIS - relates the processes of state-formation & social constraint through commentary upon increased differentiation of social function, the control of natural behavioral drives through rationalization, the feelings of shame & repugnance caused by the transgression of social mores, & the gradual diminishing of the power of the Ucs through the economic & political gains of the Wc & Mc. Notes.

Quelle: Sociological Abstracts Inc.